Monday, November 29, 2010

Lord I am not worthy...

The words of the centurion are familiar to all of us because we pray those words every time we celebrate the Eucharist. Yes, the words are about to change. The new translation will bring the liturgical text closer to the biblical text and the Latin original of the pray with "to have you enter under my roof" in place or "to receive you."
The unworthiness of the centurion is not, however, the center of the passage. More important as he explains is the issue of authority and the power of the word of God.
His acknowledgment of being under authority disturbs us. We mistakenly misunderstand the concept of freedom. We act at times as if to be free means to not be under the authority of anyone. The paradox of the gospel is that it is only when we acknowledge the authority and power of Christ in our life that we can find our true freedom: freedom from the power of sin and death, freedom to live the new life Christ gained for us.
Jesus says of the pagan, Roman centurion that no where in Israel had he found such faith. Today we are invited to reflect on is how much we really trust in the power of Christ to change our lives and bring us healing.